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Council preview: Vaughan would prohibit Ford from excluding the Star

Councillor Adam Vaughan, a critic of Mayor Rob Ford, has tabled a motion that would forbid the mayor from discriminating against the Toronto Star.

By Daniel DaleUrban Affairs Reporter

Fri., Sept. 16, 2011

Councillor Adam Vaughan, a vocal critic of Mayor Rob Ford, has tabled a motion that would forbid Ford and his staff from discriminating against the Toronto Star.

Ford and his press secretary have responded to the Star’s questions only on rare occasions since the paper published an article in July 2010 about a confrontation between Ford and a high school football player he was coaching. Ford says the article was false, and he seeks a front-page apology.

His office does not send the Star its news releases. Last Friday, his policy chief excluded the Star from a briefing on arts cuts to which every other major member of the City Hall press gallery was invited.

Vaughan is a former journalist. His “Free Press and Democracy” motion, seconded by centrist Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, would prohibit city employees and politicians from excluding any specific journalist or news outlet from any “media conference,” “media event” or news release.

The motion does not explicitly mention the Star, and it does not seek compel Ford to respond to Star inquiries.

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“Individual relationships, talking to journalists one-on-one, public officials can choose who they want to talk to,” Vaughan said. “But when you speak to the city through the press gallery, all members must be treated equally. When you see a government start to pick favourites in the media, that’s an attack on a cornerstone of open, accountable, responsible government.”

Vaughan denied that he was attempting to curry favour with the Star. His proposal, he said, would equally prevent Sue-Ann Levy, the Toronto Sun’s outspoken conservative columnist, from being singled out for unequal treatment.

“It’s not just the Toronto Star. There are individual journalists who aren’t treated fairly . . . I’ve been there, I get it, and it’s just not right,” he said.

Ford’s press secretary, Adrienne Batra, did not respond to a request for comment.

The proposal will be considered at the council meeting on Wednesday. In other council proposals:

• Council will have a second chance to approve the two provincially funded public health nurses Mayor Rob Ford and his executive committee rejected in June. Ford’s executive approved a near-identical second offer of three nurses earlier this month.

“There seems to have been a change of heart, or a change of spin — whichever, I don’t care, as long as we hire the two nurses,” said the chair of the health board, Councillor John Filion.

• Councillor Josh Matlow wants to raise the fine to $500 for drivers who obstruct rush-hour traffic on arterial roads and in bicycle lanes by stopping or parking. Current fines range from $40 to $60. “The reason I’m suggesting $500 is that people are ignoring such small amounts,” he said.

• Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam wants council to ask the province to abolish the Ontario Municipal Board, or, if other municipalities disagree, to allow Toronto to opt out. The OMB, an unelected body that adjudicates land use disputes, has the authority to overrule council.

“It is manifestly undemocratic for an appointed board such as the OMB to substitute its opinions for the considered judgment of elected councillors and professional city staff on matters affecting municipalities in which the councillors and city staff will continue to live and in which the OMB has no ongoing presence,” the summary of the motion reads.

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